


Whose Are These?

by ImaRavenclaw



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Laundry, M/M, Messy, Music, Sneaking Around, The Cranberries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaRavenclaw/pseuds/ImaRavenclaw
Summary: Cedric’s mum is cleaning his room and getting his laundry done before he heads back to school. He’s maybe too quick to tell her that he can manage it himself, but not quick enough to follow through.Kind of just started writing this then realized that it would be perfect for Noelle Zingarella's Fluff Challenge, so here we go!
Relationships: Amos Diggory/Mrs Diggory, Cedric Diggory/Oliver Wood, Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory (mentioned)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Whose Are These?

**Author's Note:**

> I know that The Cranberries album No Need to Argue came out October 3rd 1994, but can you please pretend that it came out in May or something so that poor Cedric can listen to his “girl-cry” music in peace? Thanks. 
> 
> The song lyrics in the story are from Zombie and I Can’t Be With You by The Cranberries. I didn’t write them of course.

Catherine Diggory was looking abysmally at the mess in her son’s room. She wondered how it was that everyone who’d never been to their house assumed that both her son and husband were well-organized and neat. The reality was that the Diggory men were complete hogs; at least during the summer, when Cedric was home and Amos had a large portion of days off.

This week was particularly bad. She’d walked past the room a few times when the door had been slightly propped open but couldn’t quite bring herself to look. Today was the day that she actually managed to take a breath for courage and look inside.

Cedric’s room had light blue walls adorned with quidditch posters and pictures of his friends. It was rather average sized, with a wardrobe, desk, two night tables and a double bed in between them. Lately though, Cath wouldn’t be able to tell anyone which piece of furniture was where. First off, there were clothes strewn on every surface. Then, Cedric’s muddy quidditch gear had been dumped and forgotten in a corner. There were plates of leftovers balancing on all of the hard surfaces and books left open from summer studying. And it smelled like Cedric’s skunk cologne, which Cath hated. She always felt sorry for his nice little girlfriend, the one with the shiny black hair and kind eyes. But perhaps she liked the smell.

Cath leaned back into the upstairs hallway, one foot still in Cedric’s room. “Cedric!” She called down the stairs. He was reading a book in the parlour. 

“Yeah Mum?” He called back up. 

“Can you clean your room at some point this weekend, darling?” 

Cedric hadn’t even put his book down. He was only half-heartedly listening, absorbed in his muggle mystery novel. “Yeah Mum, sounds fine!” He replied, not even really processing what he was agreeing to. 

Cath nodded, satisfied. When she asked Cedric to do something she was confident that it would get done. This time should have been no different. 

And yet, five days later on Thursday night, the room was still a dump. _It’s possibly worse_ , she thought to herself. She’d been heading to her room to take off her work clothes when she’d done the double take. Backtracking to stand in the doorframe, she asked her son about the mess. No response. Once in the door she could see that he had his headphones on. He was bobbing his head to the music and looking at the CD case that presumably went with the album coming from his Discman. 

“Cedric,” she said, hands on her hips. Still no response. The sound was turned up so loud that she could hear it coming out of the headphones. She could even hear the lyrics. 

_In your head, in your head_

_Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie_

_What's in your head, in your head_

Cath scoffed a little, crossing her arms. She didn’t laugh just in case Cedric were to notice her, but she found it sort of funny. Maybe she just didn’t understand the strange new music scene, but Cedric’s favourite bands always seemed like the kind of music teenage girls would put on to cry after a break up. Maybe that was it, now that she thought about it. He had been acting bizarrely all summer. It really seemed like he was hiding something. 

“Cedric!” She said, a little more forcefully. He looked up startled and moved one side of the headphones while he slammed the pause/play button with his index finger. With an expectant look from her son, she moved the question she had previously wanted to ask to the side and asked the presently more important one. “Is everything alright with Cho?”

“Huh?” Cedric looked confused. Cath thought he looked sweet like that, just like her small baby boy. He had grown up so fast. It was hard for her to believe that he was sixteen. _Seventeen in two months_ she thought to herself, caught between wanting to chuckle and cry. 

“Your girlfriend, Dear.”

Recognition flooded Cedric’s face. “Oh yeah. Things are swell. Why d’you ask?”

Cath couldn’t quite tell if he was lying or not. Swell? When did Cedric ever use words like swell? But nonetheless, her son was a truth teller and she reminded herself that he would never keep anything from her. They were so close after all.

But if there hadn’t been a breakup then what was there? His grades had been perfect. Hufflepuff hadn’t won the Quidditch Cup but Cedric had expressed satisfaction that his schoolmate Oliver Wood had won it in the last year of his education. “Gryffindor really deserved it this year,” he had said the first night he got back. “They worked hard. Hufflepuff will win in my last year.” Cath concluded that a situation in which she would let him avoid doing chores was not present. She was happy that nothing dire was happening in Cedric’s life of course, but his negligence of simple household tasks was beginning to get on her nerves. 

She lost her marbles a little in that moment. “Clean your bloody things up!” She said, voice raised. Cedric cocked his head, confused at his mother’s quick road from concern to frustration, and Cath walked away. 

What could possibly be going on with him? He’d been acting so bizarre all summer. Normally, Cedric was diligent in his summer activities. Last year at seven in the morning Cath would be leaving for work and Cedric would just be coming back from a run. And when she and Amos would get home he had usually done the dishes, walked the dog, and done preparatory school work. And every summer since he was ten he had attended the most renowned quidditch camp in the U.K. for a two week program. Yet this summer, he had simply shrugged and told his mother it wasn’t worth it to fill out the application. 

If it were only that, Cath would have just chalked it up to a hard school year. Being a prefect and quidditch captain at the same time wasn’t easy, she knew that herself from her own days of school. Cedric had gotten Outstandings in nearly all of his OWLS, and the examination period had been stressful for him. Yes, the school year was filled with pressure.

But Cedric hardly left his room anymore. She cursed the decision to buy him speakers at his fifteenth birthday as now there was always insufferable music playing from them. From ten to ten there always seemed to be some angry girl on that could be heard throughout the small country house. 

_Lying in my bed again and I cry cause you’re not here._

_Crying in my head again and I know that it’s not clear._

That sounded like mopey music if Cath had ever heard it. She praised Merlin that they didn’t have neighbours too close nearby. 

On top of that he never seemed to sleep. She would walk past his room sometimes for a glass of water and hear him talking on the phone in a hushed voice. When she got the phone bill she examined it and found it to always be the same number. Perhaps it was just Cho and they missed each other. When Cedric finally cleaned his room Cath thought she’d suggest he invite her ‘round. 

At the start of August, a week after the last time she’d asked, Cedric’s room was still a complete mess. When they were all eating dinner she brought it up for discussion again. 

“Amos,” she said to her husband.

“Yes dear?”

“Could you please tell your son to do some laundry and pick up his books? He doesn’t seem to understand when I ask. Maybe it’s my muggleborn way of speaking.” She said, talking right through Cedric. He glared at her, mouth filled with beef Wellington. Of course he had understood her! He’d just… Let it slip. More important things to think about he supposed. 

“Mum!” He finally said, outraged. A large lump of food in his throat struggled to descend. He had swallowed too quickly in a rush to defend himself. Reaching for his water, he took a sip then continued. “I understood you fine. I’ve just been busy.”

Amos laughed wildly before lifting his arm and pointing at Cedric. He could barely make his joke he was in such a fit of laughter. “Cedric,” he heaved. “Clean your things!” Another roar of laughter. Cath suppressed a smile but Cedric was unamused. He rolled his eyes and left the table, taking his plate with him.

“Cedric! Please bring the plate down when you’re done.” Cath called after him.

“I’ll think about it!” Cedric retorted, stomping up the steps in an almost-angry fashion. He flew through the hallway and swung the door to his room open.

The person sitting on his wardrobe disaster of a bed made him smile from ear to ear. 

“You’re here,” he breathed happily, sinking down next to the Gryffindor quidditch captain.

From downstairs, his parents could hear the soft sounds of words being spoken. The voices were so far away though that they were none the wiser to the fact that it wasn’t just one person in the room.

“If that boy stacks the telephone fees any higher, I might strangle him.” Cath sighed, putting her elbows on the table and rubbing her eyes. Amos patted her back and smiled sympathetically at her. It was well and all, but she really wished that Amos would take the role of bad cop sometimes. It was so much easier to be Cedric’s best friend when he was small. Now he had to be disciplined all of the time. Less so than other children, they assumed, but he was still a teenage boy. 

“Ah, see. Was just a short talk.” Amos said. The murmurs from above had stopped. “I’m sure it’ll just be a quid or two for that one.” 

But Cedric most certainly wasn’t on the phone, and therefore wasn’t hanging it up. The talking had ceased because instead of catching up with his best friend he was kissing him; touching him everywhere that he could get his hands on without making Oliver shout. 

The only words spoken in the next hour were Oliver’s panting whine of, “Why are your clothes still on?” and Cedric’s sad “Goodbye,” as Oliver left through the window the same way he’d come in. Man his father was dumb thinking it was a good idea to replant a cedar tree that Baby Cedric could see from his crib. All the branches were the perfect ladder for Oliver to climb up and screw Cedric whenever he got horny. Or just hold Cedric’s hand while he read until they both fell asleep when he missed him.

Cedric had finally cleaned his room a week after the dinner and Cath sighed in relief as she passed it. Finally she could see the floor again. She told Cedric that she was happy. He finally seemed to be going back to normal as well. 

Well, not normal considering it was the first time a boy had asked Cedric to date him. The sad love songs had ceased solely due to the fact that Cedric wasn’t confused as to whether or not Oliver wanted to be with him anymore. But since his mother didn’t know any of that, it was normal to her. 

“I’m glad that whatever you’re going through has passed,” she said to him one morning in the kitchen as he made a smoothie.

Cedric laughed nervously and poured his drink into a glass. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You do. You don’t have to tell me or talk about it if you don’t want to, I just thought that I’d let you know how nice it is to see you happy.”

Cedric considered his mother’s words and debated telling her what was going on. That he was gay and that Oliver Wood had said he loved him. But he was too anxious in that moment to follow through. And if he told his mum, he’d have to tell his dad too. He had a plan, and he would stick to it. Once he was moved in to his own apartment and had started training in Magical Law, he’d tell them. 

The summer continued, Cedric’s parents working and he and Oliver’s relationship unrolling without so much as an inquiry of suspicion from either parent. Finally, his departure to Hogwarts was nearing. Cedric liked school, but this year he was dreading it. Oliver had already had his last year and now Cedric would be without him until Christmas. He couldn’t stand the thought. 

They saw each other whenever they could. It was in the last week or two of summer that Cath was bursting at the seams to know what was making her son so happy. He was practically _skipping_. Pearly whites were always gleaming and crystal eyes always shining. He constantly looked as if he’d won all of the awards displayed in his room simultaneously. 

But then, the week before he left, his room got all messy again. Cath walked by it one afternoon when Cedric had said he was meeting a friend at the lake. This time it was just the rush to get back to school, but Cath had been putting up with it all summer and now that he was so happy she wasn’t prepared to cut him any slack. There was definitely no reason for him to be leaving a disaster behind. But she knew that if she left him with the task so close to his return to school, it would never get done and she would end up doing it anyways. And that moment happened to be rather convenient for her.

She started to work. She moved quickly, knowing that Cedric would be pissed if he caught her in the middle of it, but grateful if it was finished. He wasn’t exactly a fan of witnessing people messing with his things, particularly his parents. But he never seemed to mind coming back to a clean room in years previous.

Cath brought all of the dirty dishes down. It took her three trips and a gag reflex suppressor spell. She was surprised they hadn’t gotten rats over summer, living so close to a field. Using her wand she had all of the hard surfaces scrubbed and put the books back by hand as she did so. 

She organized all of the CDs then started on the clothes lying on the floor, growling as she picked things up. The room was looking much better two hours later and her nerves were calming. She'd done two loads of laundry and then started on getting the clothes off the bed and washing his bedsheets. 

That’s when she found the boxers.

At first, she grabbed them like any other item of clothing. They were her son’s after all. She’d raised the wean, breastfed him, taught him to speak and walk and everything else. A pair of pants was just cloth where her son was concerned. But after she tossed them in her basket, she looked at them again. She frequently did Cedric’s laundry for him and she’d never seen these boxers in her life. Her wand out of reach, she bent down to pick up the pair of underwear from the tip of the leg hole. Examining them, she became confused.

The plaid boxers were faded, red and worn gold coloured. Gryffindor’s colours. Surely that meant nothing. Perhaps Cedric had just recently picked up some new clothes for school on his own. She was about to put them back in the basket when something else caught her eye; a little white tag that had clearly been ironed on was loose on the band. She put her index finger under it so that she could read what was written.

_Oliver Wood_

Cath didn’t exactly know what she felt. She wasn’t surprised, but she also wasn’t not surprised. There was a chance that the boxers didn’t mean anything, but if Cedric did prefer the company of blokes then it wouldn’t be a shock. Especially with the way he’d been so dismissive over her offer to have Cho stay the night. 

Then she found a Prussian blue hooded jumper with the same silly little tag and she was pretty damned sure that her son had been sneaking around. She didn’t mind of course, but she was hurt that he hadn’t said anything. 

The sad romance music sort of made sense now though. She’d just sort of assumed it had been about Cho. 

Cedric came home and into the entry to his mother’s smirk. Hoodie in one hand and plaid pants in the other, she asked, “Whose are these?” 

Cedric couldn’t speak. His face was boiling red as he tried not to think about him ordering Oliver to take those exact boxers off as he got on his knees. Then his insistence that Oliver should gift them to him. “You want me to leave with no underwear?” He’d chuckled, trying to stay quiet.

“Yes. It’s called going commando. Gross teenage boys like us do it all the time.” Cedric had winked.

And the jumper. That windy night when Oliver and Cedric had been out late hiking. Cedric didn’t even say anything, Oliver just handed the sweater over and took another one out of his bag for himself. 

With no response from Cedric, Cath smiled softly. “Well, I’ll wash the boxers for you and leave the jumper on your bed. I’m sure it will be lonely at school this year without him.” 


End file.
